How far and how literally do named locations inform us of the recipients of a proclamation or prophecy?
There are many passages where the recipient is known already, both contextually in the book and ...

Did the 70 years of the Babylonian Captivity stem from the warnings found Lev 26:18-33?
The Babylonian exile had lasted 70 years. The following passage indicates that during this period of 70 years, ...

In John 18:9 Jesus (or John) says: That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none.
This apparently alludes to the saying which Jesus pronounced in ...

In John 18:9 Jesus (or Mathew) says:
That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none.
However, I couldnt find what scriptures is being quoted here. I ...

What is meant by "[X] shall inherit the earth"? This phrase is found countless times in the scripture (cf. Psalm 37:11, Matthew 5:5), but should this be interpreted as a physical possession of land? ...

In Malachi 3:2-3 the day of the Lord's coming is said to be "like a refiner 's fire and like fullers' soap." I can understand that he would purify by fire because fire was used to purify metals and ...

16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the ...

In Isaiah 7, King Ahaz, the Judean king, is surrounded by the armies of Aram and Israel and things look bleak. At Isaiah 7:13-17, the prophet tells Ahaz that God will give him a sign that the seige ...

Zechariah 13:6 speaks of a man wounded in the house of friends. Taken by itself, I would immediately interpret this as a Messianic reference.
However, the context is the cessation of prophecy (verse ...

Daniel Block, in his commentary on Ezekiel, speaks of a style in that book of resumptive exposition, in which a theme is initially dealt with briefly, and later examined in much more detail. Zechariah ...

I was reading the book of Nahum and it was speaking about Ninevah. Is the book of Nahum foretelling the destruction of Ninevah, for which the people of Ninevah averted by repenting of their sins, or ...

I already asked a variant of this question over at Christianity.SE: http://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/4104/to-what-extent-did-isaiah-understand-his-own-prophecies/4117#4117
Please guide ...